


names

by flowersbloomingg (thisisberkk)



Series: the strife family [1]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020), Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Baby Names, Established Relationship, F/M, Married Couple, Newborn Children, Post-Final Fantasy VII Remake, cloud and aerith are going to be the best parents no one can convince me otherwise, we'll say it's an au even though i have high hopes aerith will live in remake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:14:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26954932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisisberkk/pseuds/flowersbloomingg
Summary: Not that it was a bad name. In fact, there was something about the name – Cloud couldn’t tell exactly what – that he really liked. He couldn’t quite pinpoint it, even as he spent a lot of time thinking about it, but there was something there.--Cloud and Aerith name their first child.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Cloud Strife
Series: the strife family [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967044
Comments: 23
Kudos: 42





	names

**Author's Note:**

> Ahaaa! I have returned from the dead!!
> 
> So, this isn't any of the multi-shots I told ya'll I would be posting. Those are still in the words! One is a college AU that I have two chapters written (rough drafts, mind you), and the other is a stereotypical "what if, after Cloud and Zack escaped, Cloud ended up in Sector 5 instead of Sector 7"? kinda thing that I'm still working out the details of. I'm still halfway through chapter one as I mentioned in the Cid story, but that's just because for that one, I'm writing in a style I'm not quite used to yet. Bear with me on those!
> 
> Once I have a few more chapters of the college au one, i'll begin posting that. i have one really big paper i need to write before that might happen, so...be on the lookout!
> 
> ANYWAY! Onto this - what I've been working on in the meantime!  
> I've decided to start a lil thing along with my "imaginings for ff7r" series. This is my future fic series, featuring Cloud and Aerith as a married couple with their children!!
> 
> I'll go into a bit more details about it all in the endnote, but for now...enjoy the first of this series that I've been working on!! i'm very excited about it :) future fics and parent fics are some of my favorites to write because they're just so wholesome and fluffy and...yeah!! it's lovely to imagine these kinds of things!
> 
> i won't keep you here much longer! go enjoy the fic :)

Denzel wasn’t necessarily a name Cloud would’ve picked initially for a child.

He especially didn’t think it was a name Aerith would’ve wanted, either.

Not that it was a bad name. In fact, there was something about the name – Cloud couldn’t tell exactly what – that he really liked. He couldn’t quite pinpoint it, even as he spent a lot of time thinking about it, but there was something there.

Even then, with his unexpected interested and liking of the name, it just wasn’t what Cloud expected Aerith to think of in terms of a name for their unborn child.

Cloud, to be completely frank, figured his wife would want something more related to nature or something like that. Hell, she was a florist; nature was her livelihood, for god’s sake. So, it almost seemed out-of-character for her.

“I just really like the name,” was her response when Cloud questioned why she thought of it. She shrugged her shoulders casually as she continued tying up bouquets of lilies and daisies that she and Cloud were going to be delivering to Kalm and Edge later that day. “Do you not like it? Because if you don’t, that’s fine.”

Cloud shook his head. “N-no, I-I do like it. I just…I didn’t know where it came from, s’all.”

Aerith smiled. “It just came to me, I guess.”

And that was that. No more questions asked on Cloud’s part.

And honestly, as long as the name wasn’t Sephiroth, Rufus, or Cloud Jr., Cloud didn’t care. He didn’t have any preference whatsoever. All he cared about was that Aerith was happy and that their baby would be healthy.

And it was what they settled on for a while; they never formally agreed to it, but there was a sense of mutuality to the idea. If their baby was a boy, he would be named Denzel. In fact, his name would be Denzel Gast Strife – the middle name, obviously, an homage to Aerith’s father.

They had a few ideas for girls’ names. Aerith had a little list going, and she would add to it if anything came to mind. On the rare occasion, she would find Cloud jotting something down in it if he happened to think of something.

But the name – Denzel Gast – just seemed to be the only boys’ name that seemed fitting. That was the only name that remained on the list under the “boys” column.

Cloud took her initial answer and kept it – it must’ve just been something that came to her. But there was still something about it that Cloud couldn’t quite understand. There was something there – something with that name that just…sparked something with him.

Had he heard it somewhere? It wasn’t that common of a name. He’d met plenty of people over the past few years, not only during the hunt for Sephiroth, but also with his and Aerith’s delivery and floral businesses. But he can’t recall ever, during that time, meeting someone with the name Denzel.

Where had it come from? And why did it seem to mean something to Aerith? And…why did Cloud feel connected in a way to it?

It wasn’t until their baby son was born that Aerith shared with Cloud why she chose the name.

It was late at night. She was nursing their brown-haired, blue-eyed, week-old baby, who had woken up not too long before, crying in his crib for food. Cloud was beside Aerith in their bed, awake to keep her company. Sleep was a luxury, yes, but Cloud liked to be awake with Aerith not only to be with her, but to be with their son. Denzel Gast Strife.

They had been sitting in silence before Aerith spoke up, breaking it. She didn’t look up at Cloud as she spoke, her voice quiet. She kept her eyes on the little baby boy in her arms, stroking the back of his head with her thumb as he sleepily drank his milk.

“In…in the other future…the other timeline…the one where…where I died…” Aerith whispered, “a few years after defeating Sephiroth then, you…you found a young boy named Denzel.”

Cloud stared at Aerith.

“His parents had died in the Sector 7 bombing,” Aerith continued. “And…he had been wandering around the ruins of Midgar after Meteor…the woman who had been watching him then had passed away, so he was…. he…he was alone. He…he, at one point, managed to find people to stick with, but…the man who took care of them died, and…he was left all on his own again in Midgar. He…he was on the brink of death…and…and…I saw him…from the lifestream.”

Cloud closed his eyes, taking all of this in while listening to Aerith intently.

Aerith sniffled before she continued speaking. “And, Cloud…you were…you were so lonely, and so sad, and…and you were really struggling a lot, and so was he…and…you both needed someone in your lives…so…I led him to the church. You were living there, and I knew you would be there and would take care of him if I brought him to you.

“And…and you did. You adopted him…and you became family to him. You…you brought him back to Seventh Heaven, and you and Tifa took care of him. You…you told Tifa that…it was a way for you to save a life, because then…you blamed yourself for what happened to me. You thought…this was a way to make it up. And…even though my death wasn’t your fault…you really saved his. You became family to him. He was so happy, and you became so happy…While it hurt to not be on the living side of the Planet, seeing you two was one of the greatest joys. And…I…”

“Wanted to remember that,” Cloud finished for her, opening his eyes, now that Aerith had finished.

So that was why there was something there.

Denzel had been his adopted family in the other timeline.

He couldn’t remember much. Even after Aerith’s explanation, Cloud couldn’t remember things from that other time. But the name Denzel still resonated with him, and now he knew why; it was the name of someone he cared about. Someone he loved.

Denzel had been that Cloud’s family.

And now…he had _this_ family.

It was his job then to give Denzel the life he deserved. Cloud didn’t know much about that other time, but he’s sure that Denzel must have gone through so much, based on what Aerith had just spoken to him. Cloud hopes that Denzel then was able to have a happy life.

And now, he was going to do the same with this little one. He was going to do his damned hardest – no matter how tough it was and how unsure about it all Cloud was.

Because Cloud is scared as hell for whatever is going to happen.

At least he had Aerith by his side to help him through it all. He’s not in this alone.

Aerith looked up at Cloud. Tears glossed over her eyes. She sniffled, and she nodded her head, smiling slightly. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Cloud smiled. He reached over and kissed her cheek gently. Aerith could feel the heat rise to her cheeks – a familiar feeling. Cloud placed an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into him. 

“Well, I like the name,” Cloud said simply. He was never the best with words, after all. “And…I don’t remember that kid, obviously, but…I hope I made him happy then, and that we can make this kid,” he cupped the back of their newborn’s head gently with his hand, “happy, too.”

Aerith grinned.

“I know we can.”

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhhh there it is!! The first of (hopefully) many parent!clerith fics :)
> 
> I'll go into a bit of the details here for how i imagine all of this...
> 
> So, I imagine (if Aerith lives in remake), she and Cloud date for a few years (~2 is what i imagine; initially with Aerith living with Elmyra and Cloud in an apartment in Kalm, eventually Aerith moving in with him), get married, start their delivery/floral business, and then around 3 years after that, get pregnant and move to a cottage just outside Kalm. 
> 
> their first child is, obviously, Denzel Gast :) He is basically Denzel from Advent Children, just Cloud and Aerith's actual biological child (considering he was their "spiritual" child in AC <3). 
> 
> They get a dog when Denzel is pretty young- a sheltie is what I imagine, and her name is Magpie (Mag for short) and they have a few cats that roam around the property that aren't technically their pets, but they take care of them anyway <3
> 
> three years later, they have a little daughter named Lily Promise! She looks a lot like Aerith, but with blue eyes. She's a quiet child, so she gets that from her dad.
> 
> Two years after Lily, they have a third child - River Wolf. He looks a lot like Cloud, except he has Aerith's green eyes. He is loud and rambunctious, but a sweet boy. 
> 
> All three children are very in-tune with their Cetra powers. Denzel struggles with his a bit more than the younger kids, but he has them <3 
> 
> That's what I've imagined for my Clerith family! I know a lot of people have various ideas about their own Clerith family, but this is the family I've come up with. I know a lot of people still have Clerith adopt Denzel, and initially, I was going to do that, but I liked the idea of making a connection between him as their spiritual child in ACC and their biological child in Remake. I don't know lol
> 
> I do have a fic written where they adopt Denzel, but that's my ACC-rewritten story that I'm still editing. It's completed, but needs a lot of work done before I even think about posting it (if I'm not too embarrassed by it lol). That's a whole other scenario, but still similar to this one; Clerith living in Kalm, getting married, then moving to a farm, then adopting Denzel, then Geostigma...it all happens really fast in that timeline (to keep with ACC happening two years after OG), but I like the slower pace of this new series a lot better <3
> 
> let me know what you think! i have a few stories written up for this already, but I'd like some more ideas if ya'll have any!! let me know what you want to see!
> 
> i'm also pretty active on twitter if you ever wanna chat with me! i'm @marycresenta13. i'd love to scream with you about how much clerith has ruined our lives lol
> 
> thank you so much for reading, and stay safe out there!


End file.
